With the next election over six months away, members of the Board of Brevard County Commissioners plan to seek the governor’s input on whether an appointment will be made to replace outgoing commissioner Katie Delaney in the near future.
Voters will choose a new commissioner in November’s election, but state law calls for Gov. Ron DeSantis name an interim replacement. DeSantis has said who he would appoint or even if he would name a successor.
Delaney this week signaled her disapproval of such a move, saying that she didn’t want DeSantis to choose someone for the District 1 voters who elected her.
Delaney announced her resignation this past month and will leave office on May 2. So far, four candidates — three Republicans and one Libertarian — have filed to run for the soon-to-be-open seat. Delaney announced her resignation this month after less than two years in office after being elected as an outsider candidate promising to bring increased accountability and transparency to the seat.
“You have no idea what the constituents of D1 have had to endure over the years. Why do you think I got elected here? I got elected here because these people haven’t been listened to in decades. They do not trust the government,” Delaney told her fellow Board members in a heated discussion at their April 21 meeting.
“Well, the governor also got elected overwhelmingly as well,” District 5 commissioner Thad Altman said in reply.
Delaney’s District 1 office still has staff and is expected to be responsive to constituents even without a commissioner in place. Other members of the Board or county staff will have to make decisions as to how to manage the office’s affairs without an appointment.
District 4 commissioner Rob Feltner along with Altman said it would behoove the county to reach out to the governor’s office, which had not made any formal announcement as of Wednesday, April 22, about its plans so that they would know the best approach moving forward.
Although the governor is empowered to replace Delaney before this November’s election, he is not legally required to do so and may leave the seat open as he has done in similar circumstances in the past.
“It’s fine to simply ask if an appointment is going to happen. Now we’d have that information and we can make a better decision,” Feltner said.
Delaney had other thoughts.
“I personally don’t think we should be bugging the governor with this. What we’re talking about is who’s going to be in my office answering phones and handle constituent services between now and the third Tuesday in November,” Delaney said.
Commissioners voted to bring the discussion back to the May 5 meeting.
Altman also indicated that he would independently reach out to the governor’s office to seek guidance on whether Delaney’s seat will be filled until the November election or not.
Meanwhile, the field of candidates to replace Delaney has filled up quickly. Libertarian Nathan Slusher, who previously ran against Delaney for the seat in 2024, joined the race alongside Republicans Micah Loyd, Rick Heffelfinger, and Stel Bailey.
Loyd is a current sitting Port Commissioner who has served in that capacity since 2016. Bailey currently heads the environmental activist group Fight For Zero and has over 12,000 followers on Facebook where she speaks out about issues affecting the Indian River Lagoon and the Space Coast in general. Slusher is also an active figure in North Brevard politics and has previously run for both Titusville City Council and Brevard County Commission on multiple occasions.
Tyler Vazquez is the Growth and Development Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Vazquez at 321-480-0854 or tvazquez@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @tyler_vazquez.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Brevard commissioner’s exit sparks debate over DeSantis appointment
Reporting by Tyler Vazquez, Florida Today / Florida Today
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
